Video branching

Abstract

A method of displaying a branched chain of IPTV content involves providing a set of metadata that associates the time intervals with one of the plurality of affiliate video streams; playing the first stream of video content on an IPTV compatible player to sequentially reveal the plurality of features of the first stream in their respective time relationships in the first stream via a display driven by the IPTV compatible player device; at the IPTV player, receiving a selection signal during the time interval that selects the video feature being displayed and the IPTV player ceasing to play the first stream of video and beginning playing the associated one of the collection of affiliate data streams. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer readable non-transitory storage medium storing a data structure that facilitates simplified navigation to affiliate video streams, comprising:
 a first segment of video content, the first segment of video content comprising a plurality of video images that each appear during at least one of a plurality of associated time intervals in the first segment of video content;   a set of metadata that associates the time intervals with one of a plurality of affiliate video streams that are each related to at least one of the plurality of video images that each appear during the at least one of the plurality of associated time intervals and where the metadata facilitates navigation to affiliated video streams that are related to the video image that appears during the associated time interval; and   where the data structure facilitates accessing the metadata upon selection of a video image being displayed at an IPTV compatible player device during the associated time interval to identify, using the metadata, a particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams that is related to the video image that appears during the associated time interval of the selected video image, where upon selection at the IPTV compatible player, ceasing to play the first segment of video content and beginning playing the associated one of the collection of affiliate video segments that is related to the video image that appears during the time interval of the selected video image.   
     
     
         2 . The storage medium according to  claim 1 , where at least some of the video images comprise a dominant video image in the first segment of video content during its associated time interval. 
     
     
         3 . The storage medium according to  claim 1 , where the metadata further comprises definition of an indicator for display that indicates that the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams is available that is related to the video image displayed during the associated time interval. 
     
     
         4 . The storage medium according to  claim 1 , where the set of metadata provides links that lead to multiple levels of affiliate videos. 
     
     
         5 . The storage medium according to  claim 1 , where the metadata resides in one or more packets that precede the first video segment. 
     
     
         6 . The storage medium according to  claim 1 , where the metadata resides in one or more packets that are distributed throughout the first video segment. 
     
     
         7 . The storage medium according to  claim 1 , where the metadata references time stamps residing within the first stream of video content. 
     
     
         8 . A method of displaying a branched chain of video content, comprising:
 receiving, at an IPTV compatible player device, a first stream of video content, the first stream of video content comprising a plurality of video images that each appear during at least one of a plurality of associated time intervals in the first stream of video content;   accessing a collection of affiliate video streams that are each related to at least one of the plurality of video images that each appear during the at least one of the plurality of time intervals;   accessing a set of metadata that associates the time intervals with one of the collection of affiliate video streams, where the metadata facilitates navigation to affiliated video streams that are related to the video image that appears during the associated time interval;   playing the first stream of video content on the IPTV compatible player device to sequentially reveal at least a portion of the plurality of video images of the first stream in their respective time relationships in the first stream via a display driven by the IPTV compatible player device;   at the IPTV compatible player device, receiving a selection signal during the associated time interval that selects the video image being displayed;   in response to receipt of the selection signal at the IPTV compatible player device, the IPTV compatible player device:
 identifying, using the metadata, a particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams that is related to the video image that appears during the associated time interval of the selected video image; and 
 ceasing to play the first stream of video content and beginning playing the associated one of the collection of affiliate video streams that is related to the video image that appears during the time interval of the selected image; 
   where, a viewer directly navigates from one stream of video content to the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams.   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , where each of the video images comprises a dominant video image in the first stream of video content during its associated time interval. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising displaying an indicator on the display that indicates that the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams is available that is related to the video image displayed during the associated time interval. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising resuming play of the first video stream after play of the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams is completed. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 8 , where data defining an indicator display is stored in the metadata. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , where the resuming is carried out as a result of receipt of a signal indicative of a selected option authorizing the resuming. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 8 , where the set of metadata provides links that lead to multiple levels of affiliate videos. 
     
     
         15 . A method of displaying a branched chain of video content, comprising:
 receiving, at an IPTV compatible player device, a first stream of video content, the first stream of video content comprising a plurality of video images that each appear during at least one of a plurality of associated time intervals in the first stream of video content;   where each of the video images comprises a dominant video image in the first stream of video content during its associated time interval;   accessing a collection of affiliate video streams that are each related to at least one of the plurality of video images that each appear during the at least one of the plurality of time intervals;   accessing a set of metadata that associates the time intervals with one of the collection of affiliate video streams, where the metadata facilitates navigation to affiliated video streams that are related to the video image that appears during the associated time interval;   playing the first stream of video content on the IPTV compatible player device to sequentially reveal at least a portion of the plurality of video images of the first stream in their respective time relationships in the first stream via a display driven by the IPTV compatible player device;   at the IPTV compatible player device, receiving a selection signal during the associated time interval that selects the video image being displayed;   in response to receipt of the selection signal at the IPTV compatible player device, the IPTV compatible player device:
 identifying, using the metadata, a particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams that is related to the video image that appears during the associated time interval of the selected video image, 
 navigating to the identified particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams, and 
 ceasing to play the first stream of video content and beginning playing an associated one of the collection of affiliate video streams that is related to the video image that appears during the time interval of the selected image; 
   where, a viewer directly navigates from one stream of video content to the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams; and   displaying an indicator on the display that indicates that the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams is available that is related to the video image displayed during the associated time interval, where data defining an indicator display is stored in the metadata.   
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 15 , further comprising resuming play of the first video stream after play of the particular one of the collection of affiliate video streams is completed. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 , where the resuming is carried out as a result of receipt of a signal indicative of a selected option authorizing the resuming. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 15 , where the set of metadata provides links that lead to multiple levels of affiliate videos.